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Sunday, March 24, 2013

Saladin

Comparative Essay on Yaacov Lev, Saladin in Egypt and Malcolm
Lyons, and D. Jackson, Saladin: The
Politics of the Holy War

By Paul Allen

Introduction

The eleventh and
twelfth centuries proved a tumultuous time for Europe, the Middle East, and
North Africa. In the late 1090s Christian armies from Europe marched to
Jerusalem on a Holy Crusade and conquered the city and the surrounding lands.
This became the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Christians ruled for almost 100
years, strengthening their influence and becoming a major kingdom of the Middle
East.

When
the Christians had struck at Islam, it was divided and splintered into
different rulers and Caliphates. The division among the Muslims would last
until one man sought to unify the Islamic Middle East. Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn
Ayyub started out as an officer under his uncle Shirkuh, a commander that
answered to the ruler Nur al-Din whose allegiance was to the Abbasid Caliph.[1]
However, he eventually rose through the ranks and unified the Middle East by
conquest, becoming a major threat to the Christians in Jerusalem. He first took
control of Egypt, using it as a staging point to conquer Syria and the Kingdom
of Jerusalem in the name of the Abbasid Caliph. Salah al-Din’s name has been simplified by westerners
to be called Saladin.[2]Saladin in Egypt describes the political
and military rise of Saladin in Egypt while Saladin:
The Politics of the Holy War shows how from Egypt Saladin brought Syria and
the Crusader Kingdom under his domain.

Saladin:
The Politics of the Holy War

The
book Saladin: The Politics of the Holy
War discusses most of Saladin’s life and career starting from his early
adulthood to his death in 1193 shortly after the end of the Third Crusade. There
is little known about Saladin’s childhood and upbringing.[3]
Saladin was the son of Ayyub and grew up in the city of Damascus. He grew to
have a particular liking for the city and received his education there as well.[4]

While Saladin was growing up in Damascus, the Fatimids of
Egypt were in decline.[5]
The former vizier of Egypt removed from his position, Shawar, had come to
Damascus asking for the aid of Nur al-Din to help him retake power in Egypt.
Nur al-Din was the ruler of Syria in the name of the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad.
He saw the positive aspects of taking
control of Egypt and improving his situation with the Crusaders. He then
decided to accept Shawar’s proposal and sent out an expedition to Egypt.[6]
Nur al-Din appointed Shirkuh to lead the expedition and Saladin accompanied his
uncle on the conquest as one of his officers.[7]
The campaigns of Egypt helped Saladin gain his first experience in leadership
and success.[8]
When the Syrians had gained control over Egypt, Shawar was reinstated as
vizier. However, Shirkuh and Saladin remained there with their expeditionary
force and gained influence in the Egyptian government. In 1169 Shawar was
murdered and Shirkuh took the office of the Fatimid vizier, unfortunately
Shirkuh died shortly after he took office. [9]

After the death of Shirkuh, there was confusion on who
would take his place as vizier. The Fatimid Caliph and the people of Egypt
realized that the Syrians had a great influence there and decided that Saladin
should take Shirkuh’s position. The Syrians in Egypt also agreed on this
appointment and Saladin became vizier.[10] Although
Saladin had good support to rule Egypt, some disapproval came from within Egypt
and from his fellow Syrians, including his superior, Nur al-Din.[11]However, the disapproval did not prevent him
from continuing his role as vizier. Matters changed again with the death of the
Fatimid Caliph in 1171.[12]
After the death of the Fatimid Caliph, their rule had ended and Saladin became
the ruler of Egypt under the Abbasid Caliph.[13]
Nur al-Din still had influence over Saladin and their relationship was unsteady
but not hostile. Nur al-Din oversaw Saladin’s rule in Egypt and even assessed
his progress and revenue.[14]

In 1174, Nur al-Din
grew ill and shortly thereafter died.[15]
Syria had lost a great ruler but Saladin had gained political independence.
Now, Saladin could dictate his own rule in Egypt without the influence of Nur
al-Din.[16] However,
Syria was facing troubles with losing Nur al-Din and becoming vulnerable to the
Crusader Kingdom. Saladin did not want Syria to fall into disunity and was set
on bringing it under his control. He marched to Damascus and was allowed into
the city.[17]

Saladin
sent a letter to the Caliph in Baghdad stating the reasoning behind his motives
for taking control of Syria.[18] Egypt
was too far from the Crusader Kingdom to stage a Holy War against the
Christians. If he could unify Syria and Egypt under his control, it would be
possible to surround the Crusader Kingdom and conduct the Holy War. The Caliph
was satisfied with Saladin’s reasoning but Saladin would struggle to unify
Syria. Saladin now controlled Damascus but Aleppo and Mosul resisted his rule.
His first successful conquest was over Aleppo. He had fought many campaigns
against Aleppo, signing treaties and resuming fighting until the city fell
under his control in 1183.[19]
The fight against Aleppo lasted almost 10 years after his first march into
Syria in 1174 and ended his Syrian campaigns.[20] A
few years after taking Aleppo, Saladin marched on Mosul and signed a treaty
with the city tocome under his control
in 1186.[21]
With the conquest of Aleppo and Mosul, Saladin had consolidated Islam all
around the Crusader Kingdom.

During
the campaign against Mosul, Saladin had become very sick and had vowed during
his sickness to take Jerusalem from the Christians.[22]
Because of his consolidation of rule over Syria and Egypt, Saladin could focus
on the Holy War. Saladin had been fighting the Crusaders on and off throughout
his career but he needed decisive, major action to affirm the Holy War.[23]
Saladin received his action at the battle of Hattin. Saladin met the Crusader
army at Hattin and his superior tactics gained him total victory over the
Christians.[24]
It was a major blow to the Christians and the Kingdom of Jerusalem was left
vulnerable. Saladin went for Acre first and other fortresses in the kingdom
caught off guard by the defeat. Hearrived at Jerusalem in 1187 and terms were met by the defending Balian
of Ibelin to give up the city.[25]

After
conquering Jerusalem, Saladin attempted to take the whole of the Kingdom of
Jerusalem. The kingdom fell one fortress after another until he was stopped at
Tyre. The Crusaders had now called on aid from the kings of Europe and they
answered by arriving in the Holy Land to challenge Saladin. Richard I of
England and Phillip of France arrived from Europe, taking Acre back from
Saladin.[26]
This defeat became negative to Saladin’s reputation and now he needed to
protect what land he still held.[27]
Richard continued to campaign down the coast of Palestine but he and Saladin
eventually came to a stalemate. They realized that both their armies were
exhausted and neither could see victory in the near future. A compromise was
met in 1192 and the Third Crusade ended.[28]
Afterwards Saladin dispersed his army and only a year later, he died of illness
in 1193.

Saladin in Egypt

Saladin
devoted his life to consolidate most of the Middle East under his control in
the 12th century. He fought numerous campaigns to unite Islam and
saved Jerusalem from Christian rule. However, all of his accomplishments could
not have been made a reality without his rise to power and rule over Egypt
first. The book Saladin in Egypt focuses
primarily on this subject.

Saladin’s
life was dictated and recorded from a number of sources in his day and after
his death.[29]
The historians that recorded of Saladin in his time were mostly civilian elite,
administrators, and men of religion. Most supported him like Qadi al-Fadil who
at first served the Fatimids in Egypt but later served under Saladin and gained
his favor.[30]
Some who wrote of Saladin had a negative aspect of his rule, especially Ibn
al-Athir, a Zangid.[31] With
a number of other sources, Saladin is recorded throughout his rule and
conquests.

As
stated earlier, Nur al-Din had an interest in Egypt with the decline of Fatimid
rule. Shirkuh and Saladin led the Syrian expedition force to take Egypt but the
Crusaders had interests there as well. Shirkuh and the Crusaders fought for
control of Egypt but the Crusaders made mistakes in their campaigns that cost
them victory.[32]

With
Shirkuh defeating the Crusaders and the death of the Egyptian vizier Shawar,
Shirkuh took the position of vizier.[33]
The Syrians had more influence with the presence of their superior force and
were therefore able to gain power in Egypt. The elite and administrators of
Egypt favored Syrian rule and this also bolstered their power.[34]
Shortly after Shirkuh took power, he died and was succeeded by his nephew
Saladin. When Saladin became vizier, he wanted to transform the politics of
Egypt and transfer rule away from the Fatimids to himself.[35]

With
the death of the Fatimid Caliph, the dynasty had ended. Saladin took full
control and began to change government policies. He started with instituting
Sunni Islam as the governmental religion.[36]
Under the Fatimids, the government religion was Shi’ia Isma’ilism but the
people of Egypt were mostly Sunni and they welcomed the new Sunni rule.[37]
Saladin also reorganized the elite and administration and gave them new land
through using iqtas. In Cairo, the Fatimids had built mosques for their legacy
but Saladin started to build law colleges under his rule.[38]
He stopped the sales and property taxes in Egypt known as mukus or hilali and
replaced the mukus with an alms tax called zakat.[39]
His changes were not only seen in the governing of Egypt but also the military.

When
Saladin gained control of the Egyptian state, he dispersed the former Fatimid
army and replaced Egypt’s army with the expeditionary force that came with him
from Syria.[40]
An important point that Saladin made for the army was the use of land through
iqtas to help pay the salaries of army officials.[41]
The iqta system was useful when the treasury or money was running low. Saladin
also created a navy for Egypt to help protect the Egyptian coast and aid his
armies in the Holy War but it was not meant to gain naval supremacy.[42]
The consolidation of Saladin’s rule over Egypt was not an easy process. It took
a good amount of politics and reorganization to establish an Egyptian state
that fit to Saladin’s rule and with a solid footing in Egypt he could look to
Syria and the Holy War.

Analysis

The
rule of Saladin over Syria, Egypt, and near the end of his career the Kingdom of
Jerusalem was acquired through many campaigns, politics, and war. Saladin’s
entire life consisted of a man in almost constant warfare. His motives for
conquest and rule can be debated. The reason for his conquest could have been
solely to regain the Holy Land for Islam and expel the Christians from the
Middle East. Another explanation for his conquests could have been for his own
goals and political career. Saladin had to consult the Caliph in Baghdad and
rationalize his motives for warring against other Muslims, especially Aleppo
and Mosul. He stated it was to bring the lands around the Crusaders under one
banner and then it be less difficult to defeat the Christians. With the Holy
War propaganda, Saladin could conquer most of the Middle East under his rule.
Through all of his conquests and campaigns, Saladin became an expert military
commander and politician and through his rule he established his own dynasty of
rulers, the Ayyubids.

Conclusion

Saladin
was truly a great man of his time. Revered by Islam in uniting Egypt and Syria
and retaking Jerusalem while also being respected by his Christian rivals as a
formidable enemy. The succession of Saladin as vizier of Egypt started the
beginning of his career. In Egypt Saladin changed the administrative landscape
to fit his rule. He used his holding in Egypt as a staging point for his
conquest of Syria and then the Crusader Kingdom. Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War describes the entirety of
Saladin’s consolidation of Syria, Egypt, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem while Saladin in Egypt focuses solely on his
rule of Egypt.

Bibliography

Lyons,
Malcolm, and D. Jackson. Saladin: The
Politics of the Holy War. Great Britain: University of Cambridge, 1982.

Lev,
Yaacov. Saladin in Egypt. Leiden:
Brill, 1999.

[1] Malcolm
Lyons, and D. Jackson, Saladin: The
Politics of the Holy War (Great Britain: University of Cambridge, 1982), 10.